This invention relates to cervical orthopedic devices and, more particularly, to semi-rigid neck braces or collars used in the treatment and therapy of cervical trauma.
Cervical collars having chin immobilizing supports attached thereto are already well known, including collars cut from semi-rigid plastic sheet material with padding mounted thereon. Such a cervical collar is disclosed, for example in, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,413,619 and RE32219 to Garth.
The collar disclosed and claimed in the Garth patent features a one-piece, neck-encircling band, the ends of which are held in overlapping relation on one side of the patient's neck by a VELCRO locking arrangement. Because of its one-piece construction from sheet material, the cervical collar covered by the Garth patent presents problems in the provision of collars of different size and stiffness for adaptation to patients in different size groups or categories.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a cervical collar of the aforementioned type which is more readily adjustable and capable of being made in different sizes in a more economical fashion to accommodate a wider group of patients.